[Coco] dw 3

[Frank Pittel]

On Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 11:23:45PM -0500, Robert Gault wrote:
> Aaron Wolfe wrote:
> 
> >In the alternate mode of dw4, you can define an infinite number of
> >disks sets where each of the 256 slots in the set points to a local
> >.dsk file or a URL where a .dsk file lives.  Still, only one disk set
> >can be loaded at a time, and they are still referenced as disks 0-255.
> >
> 
> OK, now that is understandable. The main problem seems to be a
> semantics one as it has been hard to follow exactly what was meant
> by the DW4 alternate mode. So, the alternate DW4 mode permits many
> more .dsk images mounted in the server. That to me seems major
> overkill.
> 
> Even in the DW4 alternate mode there is still no built-in good
> method for moving files from one .dsk image to another, which was
> the question of the original message in this thread.
> As things stand, all copies or backups from one .dsk image to
> another must go through a floppy or a RAM disk. The RAM disk is
> great for a Coco3 but is not possible with a Coco1 or 2.
> I feel a more valuable DW4 alternate mode would permit access to
> four .dsk images at the same time. Then Coco1 and 2 users could move
> files directly from one mount on the server to another. Maybe there
> is no reasonable way to program that given how HDBDOS works.

My thoughts exactly. A lot of this is possible via toolshed but it would be
nice. :-) While I'm dreaming (:-)) it would be nice to be able use the ide
or scsi version of hdbdos and still have access to drivewire disks. Alas, I've
mentioned that to Boisy and his response was along the line of no way, ain't
happening. (then he spent the next 15min going into painful detail on why it
couldn't happen.) I'm sure I'll be set straight if I'm wrong but the primary
issue had to do with the size of the rom. My contention is that a coco3 comes
with 128K of ram with only 64K available directly via rs/hdb dos. The superide
comes with 4 virtual roms and the ability to access 256 "floppies" or more
 directly from a CF card. I often think that with creative page switching of ram
that it can all be loaded in ram and the drivewire/ide/scsi parts of the code
switched in and out as needed. Of course as time goes on when using my actual
coco at home I tend to use drivewire and when away from home the CF card so it's
more of a hassle then anything.

The Other Frank